[Change is Good]

That's not half bad (if those numbers are correct), considering all its perks. Might just be a jack of all trades, indeed.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Can I see the source to those specs? That still not enough info. If it's hitting a 1watt at 32ohm, than I assume it will be decent enough for 600ohm, though not great. definitely under 100mw at 600ohm, which the Magni and Vali outdo by quite a bit. It should be plenty for those 300ohm or less type headphones with the exception of current hungry planars.

Still I'm not commiting to anything until the numbers are out. It does look like it will be about on par with the E9K, which is pretty entry level for a desktop amp, so anyone saying the X7's amp is higher end would be a bit presumptuous. That means that $500 for an E9k level amp, decent dac, and SBX is quite overpriced. Would definitely have to hit that under $300 mark to make it even near justifiable.

 

[conquerator2]

I agree. Especially if one only uses it as a DSP passthrough device right now

 

[paulguru]

excuse me Envy but you not considers the audio quality in games ?
 
HiFi Headphones i noticed tends to underline the audio imperfections of the compressed audio formats, and in some games the audio is in MP3, so i think with some models u'll hear a bad audio quality in games.

 

[PacoTaco]

Can I see the source to those specs? That still not enough info. If it's hitting a 1watt at 32ohm, than I assume it will be decent enough for 600ohm, though not great. definitely under 100mw at 600ohm, which the Magni and Vali outdo by quite a bit. It should be plenty for those 300ohm or less type headphones with the exception of current hungry planars.

Still I'm not commiting to anything until the numbers are out. It does look like it will be about on par with the E9K, which is pretty entry level for a desktop amp, so anyone saying the X7's amp is higher end would be a bit presumptuous. That means that $500 for an E9k level amp, decent dac, and SBX is quite overpriced. Would definitely have to hit that under $300 mark to make it even near justifiable.

http://www.digikey.com/catalog/en/partgroup/tpa6120a2-evaluation-board/1572 Here is the product spec sheet stating the chip does 80 x 2 mW @ 600 ohms. However, I was mistaken, it is 1.5 W @ 32 ohms.

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpa6120a2.pdf Spec sheet here states 700 mA. Never outright states the power output though.

I'm going to play Devils advocate here about the price though. The Magni 2 + Modi 2 uber and O2 + ODAC are unusual with their specs, especially considering the uber stack is 300$ compared to the X7 at 400$. However, the uber stack doesn't have a speaker amp, optical pass out, built in mic, surround sound processing, ability to play iDevices without the camera cord and powered hub, Bluetooth capabilities, an ADC, AND one of the better DAC chips around (though that doesn't matter if it's implemented like crap.) Not to mention being able to play multiple input sources.

If all that extra crap is worth the extra price is a different matter altogether (I wanted most of those) but that's probably their reasoning behind the price. I actually think it might be a better deal than the astro mixamp (seeing as you have to buy an external amp to run most good headphones after a certain price point,) but that's not hard to do at all.

 

[lenroot77]

I'm sure SOMEONE will know that answer. Let's see how long it will take for them to answer it.

In other news, I'm really thinking about trying the M50x. I don't want to pay much, but I do remember liking the OG M50 a lot when I had it. I have a feeling it may just be the portable I've been searching for this whole time, just overlooking. For the right price, I might jump on it.

Edit: I also see AT released a new set open and closed headphones. I wonder if they're stepping their game up. That R70x might be the schiit for gaming, but a bit too pricey at it's current state.

I just ordered a pair of m50x's. I was able to try them out at a store and I really thought they sounded great off my iPhone. I really like the option of the different cords too.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I dunno Change, the M50X I'm sure is a banger, but I find them a bit too big for portable use, and your 1540 is sure to blow them away otherwise...

And yes, 1.5watt at 32ohm is Magni 2 Uber type power. That's damn good,80mw at 600ohm... that's E9 level, which is okay for sensitive 600ohm, but not gonna give headroom for the stuff with voltage swings. I was hoping for like 120mw @ 600ohm.

Still, I can live with that sort of power, especially if i have an alternate amp if I ever have 600ohm cans that don't play nice with it (which I'm sure isn't many anyways).

Now, I don't think Evs answered this, but how would one transfer SBX to ANOTHER amp? i doubt the analog line out does this, so I assume you'd have to go the old school route of amping through the headphone jack? I do believe the speaker out can have it's own SBX type of processing, but that's not headphone related. I guess a cheap DAC like a Fiio D03K with your own amp is fine, as apparently the X7 does pass SBX to the optical out.

 

[Hapster]

Meant to post this here:
 
Okay so by using an extension cable for the mic end of the boom pro I can now have headphone out from my amp and the mic-in to my pcs sound card, bur there's one issue. I hear a bunch of high-pitched static and when I turn off the v-moda boom mic it basically "screams" producing a loud high pitch noise. I have a feeling this is because now the input is actually being amped and I can hear that on my end.
 
So how would I go about solving this? Besides obviously not using the amp.

 

[Evshrug]

Can I see the source to those specs? That still not enough info. If it's hitting a 1watt at 32ohm, than I assume it will be decent enough for 600ohm, though not great. definitely under 100mw at 600ohm, which the Magni and Vali outdo by quite a bit. It should be plenty for those 300ohm or less type headphones with the exception of current hungry planars.

Still I'm not commiting to anything until the numbers are out. It does look like it will be about on par with the E9K, which is pretty entry level for a desktop amp, so anyone saying the X7's amp is higher end would be a bit presumptuous. That means that $500 for an E9k level amp, decent dac, and SBX is quite overpriced. Would definitely have to hit that under $300 mark to make it even near justifiable.

*shrug*
Maybe, but I was reviewing a prerelease sample anyway, the bass boost feature changed too. And just for power, >880 mW is still a ton of power, amperes would be good to know too for the full picture but most of us consumers aren't used to knowing what to make of ampere measurements either. And the E09k has more output power anyway.

Texas Instruments specs the output power of the amp chip used in the X7 as having a 1.5 W output under "parametrics," I bet that's at 32 ohms and you can download the full technical data sheet if that's still not good enough for you:
http://www.ti.com/product/tpa6120a2

I quoted my earlier post, where I linked the source for the answer you were looking for.
Just to add to that, it shouldn't surprise that the E09k have the same power output, I believe they both use Texas Instruments TPA6120a2 opamp chip. What comes after that chip is slightly different (thus the lower output impedance), but that's why I kept comparing the amp section to the E09k for power.

 

[Stillhart]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/692119/the-deals-discussion-thread-read-the-first-post/12195#post_11289258
 
The X1 is on lightning deal right now for $169!

 

[inseconds99]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/692119/the-deals-discussion-thread-read-the-first-post/12195#post_11289258

The X1 is on lightning deal right now for $169!

Thanks for the heads up but I think I'm too late. I tried to buy it and it says 100% and it will notify me if available. :-/

 

[Stillhart]

Thanks for the heads up but I think I'm too late. I tried to buy it and it says 100% and it will notify me if available. :-/

Keep refreshing.  Lots of people add to cart and then change their minds.

 

[inseconds99]

Keep refreshing.  Lots of people add to cart and then change their minds.

Ordered one, thanks for the advice. Already have the boom mic pro, going to use this with my pc and my x7. Taking my hyperx clouds and using them with my Xbox one and ps4.

 

[PacoTaco]

I dunno Change, the M50X I'm sure is a banger, but I find them a bit too big for portable use, and your 1540 is sure to blow them away otherwise...



And yes, 1.5watt at 32ohm is Magni 2 Uber type power. That's damn good,80mw at 600ohm... that's E9 level, which is okay for sensitive 600ohm, but not gonna give headroom for the stuff with voltage swings. I was hoping for like 120mw @ 600ohm.

Still, I can live with that sort of power, especially if i have an alternate amp if I ever have 600ohm cans that don't play nice with it (which I'm sure isn't many anyways).



Now, I don't think Evs answered this, but how would one transfer SBX to ANOTHER amp? i doubt the analog line out does this, so I assume you'd have to go the old school route of amping through the headphone jack? I do believe the speaker out can have it's own SBX type of processing, but that's not headphone related. I guess a cheap DAC like a Fiio D03K with your own amp is fine, as apparently the X7 does pass SBX to the optical out.

 


This is from past experience, but you can have the processing go through RCA out. I did that with the O2 back when I first got the soundblaster Z card and eventually did the whole Modi -> Magni optical out route. Since you can still output through there while on headphone mode, and, since you can keep the SBX unless you turn on Stereo direct, you should be good.

I just got mine, so I'll do some testing later tonight and let you know. I would also like to avoid the whole "double amping" thing.

 

[Evshrug]

I mean, I use the SBX processing with my Stax (speaker taps) and I'm pretty sure I had my tube amp hooked up to the RCA's when I first got the X7, and the processing still worked well. I'll try testing more too, but the line out is a good option.